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Halifax Disaster Record Office
Archibald MacMechan, F.R.S.C.
Director
Halifax, N.S.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Miss Lillian Giffin
1311 Barrington St.

Miss Giffin was sitting near a window in the back of the house, in the third story. She heard the boats blow and looked out. Saw the Imo but didn't see the Mont Blanc until she walked over to the window and looked out. The two ships were making straight for each other. They struck and the Imo swung about and the Mont Blanc made straight for the Richmond shore. She struck and the drifted out from shore a little way. Miss Giffin was kneeling with her elbows on the window sill and her face quite close to the window. Her sister and Miss Mabel Wright were behind her. Miss Giffin does not remember the explosion. Her sister and Miss Wright were killed, but she was thrown across Barrington St. against the Protestant Orphanage fence. Her father found her there unconscious, with a telegraph pole on top of her. She went to Mrs. MacIntosh's house in Robie St. and asked her if she could take a bath. Her skin was all blackened and her clothes were hanging in ribbons. Mrs. MacIntosh told her that she couldn't possibly take a bath, as the house was badly damaged, but she lent her some clothes and then set her to work sweeping up the glass and debris so that Mrs. M. could move about more freely to do the dressings she was busy with.
Miss Giffin's mind is a blank for some days after the explosion. She remembers watching the fire and the terrific heat that came from it.